Smart home
Amazon Plans to Offer Improved AI-Powered Alexa at an Extra Cost: Report
![Amazon Plans to Offer Improved AI-Powered Alexa at an Extra Cost: Report](https://i.gadgets360cdn.com/large/amazon_echo_1716457978665.jpg)
Amazon to make Alexa smarter
Last month, Amazon published a post in its newsroom titled “CEO Andy Jassy’s 2023 Letter to Shareholders”. The long post detailed the tech giant’s vision for the next financial year and strategies that it plans to implement to stay ahead of the curve. In the post, the CEO stated that the company was working on building “an even more intelligent and capable Alexa”.
It is believed that the company could leverage its in-house Titan family of large language models (LLMs) that it has been working on for a while. Some of the released AI models also come with multimodal capabilities, making them the right fit for a service like Alexa. However, Amazon is keeping the potential new features of Alexa under wraps for now.
Some rumours suggest that Alexa could get a better conversational capability rivalling GPT-4o or Gemini 1.5 Pro. Further, it could also become more efficient at handling complicated tasks and understanding commands given in contextual language.
AI-powered Alexa could require another subscription
At present, access to the basic functionalities of Alexa is free and anyone can access it. Some of its more premium use cases might require an Amazon Prime subscription (for Prime Music, Prime Video, and more). However, according to a report by CNBC, the company might put the AI-powered capabilities of Alexa behind another subscription.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report claimed that Amazon is not considering bundling the upgraded Alexa with the Prime subscription. The reason behind this decision is that running servers for AI computing can be expensive. As per the report, the tech giant might be shelling out about $0.02 (roughly Rs. 1.50) per query, which could add up quickly. As a result, internally a price point of $20 (roughly Rs. 1,770) a month has been considered. However, the company has reportedly not reached any conclusions yet.
Smart home
Wakefit Brings Temperature-Control Mattress, Contactless Sleep Tracker
![Wakefit Brings Temperature-Control Mattress, Contactless Sleep Tracker](https://i.gadgets360cdn.com/large/wakefit_zense_1718277394030.jpg)
Wakefit Zense Regul8, Track8 price and availability
Regul8, under the Wakefit Zense range, can be purchased at the price of Rs. 44,999. The mattress is available in Queen (78×60 inch) and King (78×72 inch) sizes. Track8, the sleep tracking sheet, is priced at Rs. 10,499. Both devices can currently be pre-booked on the official website for Rs. 499 each, or Rs. 899 combined.
Wakefit Zense Regul8 features
According to the company, the Regul8 mattress features a water-based system to control the temperature of the mattress surface. The mattress’ temperature can be set between 15-degree and 40-degree Celsius using the companion app. Regul8 has a dual-zone temperature controller, which allows the user to set different temperatures for each side of the bed.
Regul8 also comes with integrated temperature sensors that can monitor the temperature of the mattress surface and make real-time adjustments to keep it consistent throughout the night. It also features five different presets — Neutral, Cold, Warm, Ice, and Fire — to easily set the desired temperature. Wakefit claims that the Regul8 mattress consumes 60 percent less energy than a 1.5-ton AC.
Wakefit Zense Tack8 features
Track8 is a sleep solution under the Wakefit Zense range, which can track users’ sleeping patterns and other metrics without any contact. The device, which is a thin rectangular sheet of fabric with two sheet sensors, is placed under the mattress. It has dual-zone sensors, one for each side of the bed, and can track two users at the same time. The device directly sends the collected data to the companion app, which then processes the information to present a detailed sleep report.
The company claims the device uses AI and machine learning algorithms to capture data around sleep stages, respiratory rate, movement, sleep and wake up time, on and off bed time, and snoring. Once analysed, it also offers an aggregated sleep score.
Smart home
Apple’s tvOS 18 Gets InSight, Automatic Subtitles and Other New Features
![Apple’s tvOS 18 Gets InSight, Automatic Subtitles and Other New Features](https://i.gadgets360cdn.com/large/apple_tvos_18_1718110139174.jpg)
tvOS 18 Updates
At its developer conference, Apple announced InSight – a feature which displays real-time information about the currently playing content, such as the characters, cast and the music playing. To get further information, users can select a specific actor and bring up their background and filmography page, the iPhone maker revealed.
Moreover, tvOS 18 is also said to offer the ability to add the currently playing music to the user’s Apple Music library. The Cupertino-based tech giant also announced that the InSight information can now be accessed on the iPhone while using it as an Apple TV remote.
Stan Ng, Vice President of Apple Watch, Audio, Health, and Home Product Marketing, said, “This fall, tvOS 18 and our services take entertainment in the home to the next level by bringing timely information to fans about their favourite characters and scenes.”
With tvOS, the Enhanced Dialogue feature is claimed to have become smarter, leveraging machine learning (ML) and computational audio to provide better vocal clarity. This feature can now be taken advantage of when playing supported content through the TV’s in-built speakers, Bluetooth-connected audio devices and AirPods, Apple said.
Subtitles are also said to receive improvements, with Apple claiming they now automatically appear in places where the audio does not match the device language. In addition to new screensavers such as films, TV shows, portraits and even Snoopy, Apple is also introducing support for a wider 21:9 aspect ratio for video playback on projectors.
Apple also announced updates to the Home interface, with users now able to share control when playing music through HomePod and HomePod mini using SharePlay and Apple Music. Furthermore, Live Captions will be coming to the US and Canada to read what others say during FaceTime calls when using the iPhone as a Continuity Camera on Apple TV.
The iPhone maker claims to have also introduced a new look for the Apple Fitness+ app to “help users make the most of its robust library, stay motivated, and keep consistent with their fitness routine.”
Smart home
Siri May Soon Be Able to Control Robot Vacuum Cleaners for You
![Siri May Soon Be Able to Control Robot Vacuum Cleaners for You](https://i.gadgets360cdn.com/large/vacuum_cleaner_1718098654084.jpg)
Apple Home App Updates
At WWDC 2024, Apple announced that it will soon allow users to control their robot vacuum cleaners via the Home app. After the functionality is rolled out later this year, commands may be relayed to the vacuum cleaners via Siri. These include commands to clean floors, change cleaning modes, or check the battery status.
The core functionality of robot vacuum cleaners will be supported via the Apple Home app, according to the company. These include managing power controls, setting the cleaning mode, and performing vacuum and mop cleaning, and checking charge status.”
Guest Access on Apple Home
Device owners will be also able to provide guest access to smart home devices to those people who don’t visit their homes too often. In addition to that, they can also set schedules for when guests can access their homes with smart home keys utilising the ultra wide-band (UWB) technology, it further added.
This functionality will be rolled out when iOS 18 is released to the public, which Apple says will happen in the Fall. As per the previous trends, this might coincide with the launch of the upcoming iPhone 16 series in September.
iOS 18 Eligible Devices
While iOS 18 is bringing upgrades to existing features in addition to new ones, not all iPhones will be eligible. As per the company, only the iPhone XR and newer models up to the iPhone 15 Pro Max (as of now) will receive the update. This means the iPhone models that received the iOS 17 update last year will also be updated to iOS 18.
However, the newly announced features powered by Apple Intelligence (or artificial intelligence) will only be available on handsets running on the A17 Pro SoC, which means the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, according to the company.
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